jaylew said:
Wouldn't it be up to you to prove your assertion?
What about Team Columbia-High Road's Serhiy Honchar? From his Wikipedia site: "On 11 May 2007, Honchar was suspended for 30 days by his T-Mobile team, following blood tests taken at Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour de Romandie. On 19 June 2007, the T-Mobile team announced the termination of his contract."
This seems to prove Alpe's point rather well. Honchar slips quietly away and Team Columbia-High Road are not made to look bad.
ElChingon said:
Yet look at the list of riders still racing that were implicated and procecuted and did time. Then the list of those that got off scott free (in my eyes anyway).
Who was prosecuted? To the best of my knowledge, only Ivan Basso and Jörg Jaksche have been found guilty because of their involvement with Operation Puerto. Both suspensions were a result of confessions, Basso after initially being cleared of any involvement by the RFEC. No one else has been prosecuted based on evidence attained during Operation Puerto. Stay tuned for Valverde, however.
Yes, many riders should have been found guilty if their cases were able to proceed to their national federations. They didn't because of the Spanish judiciary, and hence they should be allowed to ride because their only guilt is by suspicion and rumours, not facts and convictions.
Thoughtforfood said:
<cough> <cough> Allan Davis <cough>
Alan Davis spent a year telling anyone who would listen that he would offer his DNA to prove he was not involved. Like Gil, the UCI would not get off their fat lazy asses and take him up on his offer. He fought for a year and was cleared by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority. He was one of the lucky ones. If he was truly guilty, then let him face the ASADA and be found guilty. If the evidence is not there or not being released by the Spanish authorities, then he and every other implicated rider has the right to ride, including Contador.
Alpe d'Huez said:
ThoughtforFood - No, I know you are in completely agreement with me on this issue. I actually feel like we're starting to have an affect on waking people up with these threads. People like you, me, BroDeal, were viewed as total cynics, and people called BigBoat a "troll", and yet, the more evidence is dug up and and revealed, the more compelling our so called cynicism is.
I was one of the people calling BigBoat a troll. I regret it now, but I was frustrated with every post saying exactly the same thing and not providing proof or references. Each seemed to be written to induce a response, hence the troll remark. But I was never not a cynic and I think you'll agree most of my posts are quite realistic about the situation in the professional peloton. BigBoat's more recent posts have been more expansive and enlightening and he is obviously commenting from a position of authority if he is a high-level US coach, rather than trolling for a response. Again, I regret having said that about BigBoat and apologize to him/her for those remarks.